Vehicle-top.



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VEHICLE TOP. APPLICATION FILED IAN- 8.1915L Patented Apr. 24, 1917.

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UNITED s rnrns PATENT ornion 1,223,429. v l Specification of Letters Patent. P t t APR 2 1917 Application filed January 8, 1915. Serial No. 1,142.

To all whom it may concern? parts in the ordinary way, represented, re- Be it known thatI, GEORGE W. Soon, a spectively by 4. and 5,; the forward part of citizen of the United States, residing at the bow being detachably connected to the Troy, in the county of Miami and State of wind shield 6 in the usual way. As is usual, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful the forward portion 4 has an upwardly and 6'0 Improvements in Vehicle-Tops, of which rearwardly extending bow, shown in dotted the following is a specification. lines at 7, to support the forward portion of y invention relates to improvements in thetop covering, 8, the rear portion of the vehicle tops and especially to that type covering being supported by the rear bows known as one man tops particularly 1 and 2. adapted for automobiles. The invention As is common in tops of this type, the more especially relates to the manner of members of the forwardly-extending horijointing and supporting the front horizonzontal how are hingedtogether to permit tally arranged bow. the folding of the bow when the top is lowhe objects of this invention are to simered; the rear member 5 being hinged to the plify the construction of tops of the characbow 1, as at 9, so that it may be folded parfor referred to by eliminating certain supallel with said bow so as to permit the bows porting braces heretofore employed for stiffl and 2 and the forward portion 4 of the ening the front horizontal bow to provide horizontal bow to lie in substantially the for. greater facility, convenience and quicksame plane in folded position. l-Ieretofore ness of operation in connection with the an ordinary hinge joint has been provided foldingand looking or extension and lockbetween the two members 4 and 5, adapted ing of the two parts of the front horizontal to break downwardly under pressure, and bows, and to also provide a construction he material forming the top covering, towhich will relieve the covering of the top gether with braces ofjvarious descriptions, 820' from strains to which it has beensubjected hav een relied upon to prevent the joint in prior structures when in raised position from breaking when the top is up. In or- For the attainment of the above objects der to relieve the covering from this strain the invention consists of ajoint or means of and o o viate the use Of the braces, I emconnect'ion between the two foldably related ploy a j int Whi h y e l ked so as to parts of the front horizontal bowhaving render the horizontal bow rigid and. selfa certain novel and special features of strucsupporting, it being necessary to unlock the ture, relation and arrangement which will j in efore the bow can be broken. be pointed out in detail as the description One ofthese joints is of course located on proceeds. each side of the top, but as they are con- In the accompanying drawing,- structed exactly alike, but one will be de- Figure l is a side view'of a portion of the rl v a body of an automobile showing a top there- The members of the joint are represented,

the covering of the top being broken away." against one another for rotatable movement Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one member about a common central axis. Each of said of the joint in the horizontal bow which I members is of circular form and provided on embodying my improvement, a portion of respectively, by 10 and 11, and have bearing employ in carrying out my invention. with the usual tapering shank 12 by which r member of. the joint.

Flg. 3 is a perspective view ofthe other connection is made to the bow members in Fig.4cisatransverse section taken through the peripheries of the circular jointvmemthe pivotal pointjof the joint, the bow mem bers and terminate at points in line with the her being omitted. vertical and horizontal centers thereof soas ike parts are represented by similar to provide shoulders 12 which abut in the characters of reference'in the several views. extended relation of the parts 4 and 5 and 105 In the said drawings, 1 and 2 represent, other shoulders 12 which abutin the folded respectively, the rear bows of the top which relation of said parts, the shoulders 12 and are connected to the rear portion of the 12 thereby providing stops for limiting the body 3. in the usual way. The forwardly relative pivotal movement of the parts 4 and extending horizontal bow is formed in two "5'in connection with the extension or folding 9 the usual way. The shanks extend beyond thereof. The member 10 has two dianietrical opposite recesses 13, and the member 11 is also provided with similar diametrical opposite recesses 14. In the construction disclosed, the parts 4 and 5 have their folding and extensible movements through a range of 180; and in consideration of this fact, each recess occupies one-fourth the face of its member and the face portions 15 and 16 which intervene between the respective recesses similarly each occupy one-fourth of the faces of their respective members. The recesses are so positioned on the respective members that when the bow members 4 and 5 are in a straight line relatively to each other, the face portions 15 and 16, respectively of the hinge members will coincide with the recesses so as to enter the same and form an interlocking engagement between the hinge members. The face portions 15 and 16 are plain or smooth-surfaced and during the folding or extension of the bow occupy an overlying relation in which they are freely movable counter to one another. A screwthreacled bolt 17 having a nut 18, extends through apertures 19 and 20 in the respective hinged members to hold them in interengaged position; one of the apertures such as 20, being formed square to receive a squared portion of the bolt to prevent the bolt from turning in looking or unlocking the joint.

When the parts 4 and 5 are to be moved into extended or folded relation, the nut 18 is backed oif sufficiently to permit of the required lateral separation of the members 10 and 11 and the parts 4 and 5 are freely moved in the desired direction, their movement in the embodiment disclosed being arrested by the stops 1E2 or 12 as the case may be. When the parts 4 and 5 are thus brought into their fullyextended or folded relation, the face portions 15 and 16 will register with the respective recesses 14 and 13, at which time the members 10 and 11 are moved together so as to establish inter-en gagement of the registering face portions and recesses and the nut 18 is tightened to positively hold said members in their interengaged relation.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the form of the joint between the parts 4 and 5 bears a definite relation to the range of folding or extending movement of said parts; that is to say, the joint is so constructed that its members will interlock in either the fully extended or the fully folded positions of the parts of the front horizontal bow but will not and cannot interlock in any intermediate position. A two-fold advantage is thereby secured in that the full pivotal movements of the parts of the bow and the inter-engagement of the members of the joint at the completion of such pivotal movements may be efiected with ease and facility and the locking projections or face portions, as 1.5 and 16, may, without any undue enlargement of the joint, be made relatively large or heavy, and, therefore, of strength amply sufficient to rigidly sustain the weight of the front part 4 and of the canopy top.

By this construction it will be seen that in efi'ect a rigid horizontal bow is provided supported at the front and rear by the wind shield and rear bow, respectively, that all strain from the top covering is removed, and that no additional. braces are required to hold the bow in supporting position. By having the members 10 and 1.1 of the joint formed of circular or disk shape additional strength is given to the joint, so that the joints will be as strong at least as any other part of the bow.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In an automobile vehicle top, a front horizontal bow having connected front and rear parts foldable and extensible through a definite range of movement, and a joint between said parts comprising laterally separable companion members, one carried by each of said parts, said members having a rotatable bearing against one another and being provided with inter-matching projections and recesses formed and arranged to operatively inter-engage in either the fully extended or fully folded position of said parts but to be incapable of inter-engagement in any intermediate position of said parts.

2. In an automobile vehicle top, a front horizontal bow having connected front and rear parts foldable and extensible through a half circular range, and a joint between said parts comprising laterally separable companion members, one carried by each of said parts, said members having a rotatable bearing against one another and being provided with inter-matching projections and recesses and with shoulders which abut upon the completion of the folding or extension of said front and rear parts and thereby limit the folding or extensible movementsof said parts, the projections and recesses of each member being arranged in diametrically opposite relation and having an area of onefourth of a circle, the projections being plain or smooth-surfaced, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of December, 1914.

GEORGE W. SCOTT.

Witnesses:

E MAIER, H. J. EIOHHORN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents,

' Washington, D. G. 

